Building sheet positioner

ABSTRACT

A separator for insertion between building construction sheets for externally cladding buildings that has a handle part securable to an existing sheet and a spacer bar that overlies the edge of an existing sheet in order to project into the path of an incoming sheet and space it from the existing sheet. The handle and spacer bar are made of metal. Four separators are required for insertion at two adjacent edges of an incoming building sheet.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a national phase entry under 35 U.S.C. §371 of International Patent Application PCT/AU2014/000955, filed Oct. 8, 2014, designating the United States of America and published in English as International Patent Publication WO 2015/139069 A1 on Sep. 24, 2015, which claims the benefit under Article 8 of the Patent Cooperation Treaty to Australian Patent Application Serial No. 2014900956, filed Mar. 19, 2014.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure concerns building sheet positioners.

BACKGROUND

The exterior face of a building may be clad with sheets specially made for the purpose of improving the appearance. These are commonly rectangular with a smooth finish being attached with fasteners to the wall of the building. The ceilings of external areas of city buildings, railway stations and the like are likewise clad with sheets. The installation of this type of sheet requires care in that they are heavy, typically weighing 65 kg and in practice requiring three tradesmen per sheet to lift them into position. They are fixed in rows with a 10 mm gap all round. Removable spacers are inserted during the installation and removed once the sheet is successfully fastened to the wall or ceiling.

The tradesmen may be on ladders, scaffold or cherry pickers and must hold drills and timber spacers, as well as steadying and adjusting the position of the sheet itself in relation to adjacent sheets. Rates of coverage are correspondingly slow and the work is tiring.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The apparatus aspect of the disclosure provides a building sheet positioner comprising a handle with a planar surface, a linear spacer projecting from the planar surface in order to overlie the edge of a sheet, the spacer lying parallel to the planar surface and having a uniform cross-section.

Preferably. the handle is linear and the spacer lies transversely to the handle. For building applications, the spacer lies at 90 degrees to the handle.

The handle may have bores therein to act as screw guides for attaching the positioner to a sheet.

The spacer may lie closer to one end of the handle, the portion of the handle between the end thereof, and the spacer acting as a retaining surface for the next adjacent sheet.

The end of the handle adjacent the spacer may be inclined so as to facilitate the insertion of the adjacent sheet behind the handle portion during installation.

For economy, the positioner may be a metal fabrication.

The spacer may be a rod of circular cross-section. Preferably, the cross-section is constant along the length of the spacer but a threaded rod is an acceptable alternative. Likewise, the spacer may have grooves or other interruptions. This is provided so that the spacer presents a surface to the incoming sheet that is parallel to an edge of a sheet that is already in contact with the spacer; then, the spacer will give a reliable result. The spacer may be a rod of square section.

When the handle and spacer are made of metal, the spacer may be attached to the planar surface by welding.

Alternatively, the positioner could be a molding or die casting.

Advantageous Effects

1. Reduces the installation from a three-man job to a two-man job.

2. Speeds the installation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

One embodiment of the disclosure is now described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of part of an exterior wall with three sheets already fixed in position and with four positioning devices attached.

FIG. 2 is a close-up side view of the horizontal edge of a sheet from FIG. 1 with a device attached ready to receive an entering sheet.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the device.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the device.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the device.

FIG. 6 is a reverse plan view.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the wall with a fourth sheet in position ready to be attached to the exterior wall.

FIG. 8 is a side view of a positioner with a modified planar surface.

FIG. 9 is an end view of the positioner in FIG. 8 showing the fastener bore.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2 and 7, the wall 2 in the upright concrete slab wall of a building with three sheets 4, 6, 8 already affixed with 8 mm gaps 10 separating each sheet from the next adjacent sheet.

In order to position the next sheet 36, pairs of positioners 14 are attached in the position shown in FIG. 1 and attached to the sheets 4, 8 by screws 30.

Referring now to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the positioner 14 is made from a 25×25×147 mm length of steel square tube 25×25 mm. The faces of the tubes are planar and lie at 90 degrees to each other. One planar face 16 has an 80×8 mm threaded rod 18 welded at 90 degrees to the tube axis 20. A cutout 22 gives access to the tube wall 24 acting as the planar face. The tube wall 24 has a pair of bores 28 to take fixing screws 30 (one shown).

The purpose of the cutout is to allow the operator to insert the screw 30 into the bore using an electric portable screwdriver. This fastens the positioner in the place shown in FIG. 2. The 8 mm rod 18 is threaded and extends 80 mm along the top edge 32 of sheet 6. The top end 34 of the device is inclined in order to assist the reception and slide-in of entering sheet 36.

When all four positioners have been screwed in place in the positions shown in FIG. 1, sheet 36 is manhandled into the gap 38 so that the two entering edges lie spaced from sheets 6 and 8 by 8 mm, the thickness of spacer rod 18 as shown in FIG. 7. The sheets are attached to the wall 2 by fasteners.

The eight retaining screws 30 are then unscrewed and the positioner 14 is pulled from between the sheets to be used for the next sheet placement. The screw holes are filled and the fastener sites are covered by finishing operations that are subsequently carried out when the wall is fully covered.

When the wall 2 is replaced by a ceiling, the sheets attach to joists or battens but the technique is the same.

In FIG. 8, the positioner is made from a blank, which is laser cut from 1.8-2.0 mm sheet steel. A transverse slot is cut in the area that is to mount the spacer and an acute U-section cutout is removed from the handle end 40 closest to the spacer. This allows that end to be folded to close the gap resulting in a change to the planar surface. The minor part 42 is inclined to the major part 44. Weld 46 hides the transverse slot.

In FIG. 9, bore 48 passes through the spacer 18 and the planar surface 44 for the reception of a fastener to attach the positioner 14 to the support surface 2.

It is to be understood that the word “comprising” as used throughout the specification is to be interpreted in its inclusive form, i.e., use of the word “comprising” does not exclude the addition of other elements.

It is to be understood that various modifications of and/or additions to the disclosure can be made without departing from the basic nature of the invention. These modifications and/or additions are, therefore, considered to fall within the scope of the invention. 

1. A building sheet positioner comprising: a handle with a planar surface; and a linear spacer projecting from the planar surface in order to overlie an edge of a sheet, and lying parallel to the planar surface, wherein the spacer: presents a surface to an incoming building sheet that is parallel to the sheet edge with which it is already in contact; and lies closer to a handle end of the handle.
 2. The building sheet positioner as claimed in claim 1, wherein the handle is linear and the spacer lies transversely to the handle, a portion of the handle between the handle end and the spacer acting as a retaining surface for the incoming next adjacent sheet.
 3. The building sheet positioner as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spacer lies at 90 degrees to the handle.
 4. The building sheet positioner as claimed in claim 1, wherein the handle has at least one bore for reception of a fastener to attach the positioner to the underlying sheet.
 5. (canceled)
 6. The building sheet positioner as claimed in claim 1, wherein the handle portion between the handle end and the spacer is inclined to the planar surface.
 7. The building sheet positioner as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spacer is a rod of circular cross-section.
 8. The building sheet positioner as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spacer has a bore for the reception of a fastener to attach the positioner to a support surface.
 9. The building sheet positioner as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spacer is attached to the planar surface by welding.
 10. The building sheet positioner as claimed in claim 1, wherein the planar surface extends from one end of the positioner to the spacer, the surface between the spacer and the opposite handle end of the handle being inclined to the planar surface.
 11. The building sheet positioner as claimed in claim 1, wherein the positioner is made from a flat blank of sheet metal 1.5-2.0 mm thick.
 12. A method of fixing building sheets to a support surface such that each sheet is separated from an adjacent sheet by a uniform gap, the method comprising: fixing a first building sheet to the support surface; applying a pair of sheet positioners, made according to the positioner defined in claim 1, to an edge of the fixed sheet to define a gap causing the sheet positioner to project into the gap; placing a second sheet in contact with the support surface so that one edge of the second sheet contacts both sheet positioners to produce a parallel gap; fixing the second sheet to the support surface; and removing the pair of sheet positioners.
 13. Walls and ceilings covered by building sheets attached by the method as claimed in claim
 12. 14. The building sheet positioner of claim 1, wherein the surface between the spacer and the handle end of the positioner is inclined away from the outer surface of the mounted sheet.
 15. The building sheet positioner of claim 1, wherein the handle portion is inclined to the planar surface to facilitate the insertion of the incoming adjacent sheet behind the handle portion during installation.
 16. The building sheet positioner of claim 2, wherein the spacer lies at 90 degrees to the handle.
 17. The building sheet positioner of claim 2, wherein the handle has at least one bore for reception of a fastener to attach the positioner to the underlying sheet.
 18. The building sheet positioner of claim 2, wherein the handle portion between the handle end and the spacer is inclined to the planar surface.
 19. The building sheet positioner of claim 2, wherein the spacer is a rod of circular cross-section.
 20. The building sheet positioner of claim 2, wherein the spacer has a bore for receiving a fastener to attach the positioner to a support surface.
 21. The building sheet positioner of claim 2, wherein the spacer is attached to the planar surface by welding. 